


Two Turtle Doves

by Athena_Yule



Series: Throwing Gwenvid AUs Against The Wall [2]
Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: David switches wing types two Chapters in, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Not Beta Read, The Chapters are Out of Order and Aren't Related to Each Other, mostly comfort, no I mean it, wing fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-16
Updated: 2017-10-16
Packaged: 2019-01-10 11:26:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12298311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Athena_Yule/pseuds/Athena_Yule
Summary: Gwen's a Pigeon. She's well aware of that, but it doesn't mean that she necessarily likes it. She doesn't really at all like it, in fact. But David doesn't think twice about it, which she can't really say for anyone else.





	1. Chapter 1

For as long as humans have existed, they have had wings. These wings would come in at about the same time as puberty, and could be anywhere from bird wings, to butterfly, to even dragon. The possibilities were limitless, but let's just focus on bird wings for this story: They are the only relevant ones, after all.

 

Gwen's wings could have been a complete roll of the dice: Being born to two different wings types often did that. Her parents, an Albatross and a Wren respectively, told her that there was nothing to fear, and that everyone would accept her. Well, Gwen being a pretty shy kid wasn't doing her any favours, but surely nothing would change when her wings came in, right?

 

As Gwen would later find out, the answer to that was a resound no. 

 

Pigeon wings. Out of anything that she could have gotten, it had to be pigeon wings. Gwen had never felt so disappointed in her life. The most common, boring bird in existence. The day that her wings finally settled, she couldn't believe it. She ran through four of the five stages of grief within two days (She never seemed to really get out of that last one, though). 

 

Her parents said that they wouldn't think anything of her. They said- _promised_ her, and yet all too often, Gwen would find herself on the receiving end of their pitying gazes. She hated it. She hated it with all of her might, and yet, she still sometimes thought that they were right to do so.

 

Another thing that she would sometimes find that her parents lied to her about is how others would react. No one treated her the same afterwards. No. One. She would find that some kids would tug on her wings, or purposefully avoid her because Pigeon's were 'disease-ridden', or told her that her wings meant that she wouldn't achieve anything. Gwen _tried_ , she really did, to do whatever she could to stop it. She showered twice a day, washed her clothes almost as soon as she took them off, groomed her feather's until it felt like the skin underneath them was burning. When she graduated highschool, she took as many different majors as she physically could. But nothing ever worked. Her feathers were still the colour of off-toned asphalt, and despite the fact that she graduated with pretty damn great scores in all subjects, it never led anywhere. She couldn't get a job. Not as a Psychologist, not as a McDonald's employee, nothing but a Counselor in a shitty camp that no one cared about.

 

Well, except for one.

 

His name was David, and he was probably the happiest guy on the entire god-damned planet. He saw the best in people no matter what, and he was probably the only constant source of joy in her life (Well, that was probably an exaggeration: Trashy romances would always be there for her, and cats weren't that bad). He was the one who tried harder than she had ever seen anyone try before. He didn't seem to give up, even when the kids would do like making makeshift bombs using gasoline and glass battles. Even with Max's multiple escape and murder attempts, his smile never gave up for more than a minute.

 

Gwen didn't know what to make of it.

 

On one hand, he could be grating. Ridiculously so. She could only take so many 'well, it could always be worse!'-es before she punched something. Or him. Preferably him. She also found the fact that she could get woken up as early as four in the morning because of his 'Smile exercises' not anything to be happy over. There were honestly many more examples, but those two were typically the most prominent.

 

On the other hand...

 

Well, he did always seem to make her day brighter. If she fell, he'd offer her a hand. And best of all, he never looked at her wings twice. Gwen still remembered how surprised she was the first time she came to Camp Campbell.

 

_"Hey, I'm here for the uh, Counselor application?"_

 

_In front of her were three men. The first, and by far the largest, nodded, clearly suspicious of her. The second one waved, a giant grin plastered on his face. The third, and definitely the oldest, made a non-committal grunting sound and walked out the way that Gwen came in. Gwen looked back at the larger, older man who was almost certainly the employer. He looked at her, his eyes narrowing._

_"Well, your papers seem to be in order..." The man, Mr. Campbell, coughed. "According to what David told me anyways," He mumbled the last part out. "But there's still one thing that's left to see." He continued._

 

_The smaller, younger man behind Mr. Campbell looked slightly hesitant as he watched him approach Gwen. The younger man shot Gwen an apologetic look. Mr. Campbell on the other hand..._

_"Show me your wings."_

_"What?"_

_"It's a policy. Do it."_

_"I... Uh.... Okay."_

 

_Gwen didn't really want to do it, especially not in front of two people, of of whom controlled whether or not she'd get this job, but it seemed like there was no other choice. This was fine, she told herself. She had to do this at several other interviews. Of course, she wasn't ever hired after any of those interviews, but now wasn't the time to focus on that. So with a sigh, she let her wings unravel from their previous tightly furled position on her back. And one, two-_

_"Oh thank god, you're just a Pigeon. Congrats.... Grace, you're officially a Camp Counselor at Cameron Campbell's Camp Campbell! I have to leave now, can't miss out on poaching night after all. Remember, you never saw me!"_

 

_Gwen couldn't believe her ears, and she wasn't even sure what to think as her new Boss raced out of the door. She got a job, but... Just a Pigeon? She was brought out of her thoughts as she saw the redhead from before approaching her._

_"Sorry about that. I'm afraid that Mr. Campbell isn't particularly sensitive about things like wings. What's your name?_

_"Uh... Gwen."_

_"Pleasure to meet you Gwen! I'm David, your Co-Counselor!"_

 

_Now this, Gwen thought, was interesting. He apologised: That wasn't something that happened everyday. So Gwen, always a sucker for people treating her with kindness (And be honest, who wouldn't be?), felt the slightest inclination to trust him. So she did._

 

Their friendship was slow going, but over time, Gwen grew closer to David than possibly any of her collage friends. And it was after about six weeks of movie binges together, did Gwen slowly start feeling comfortable about revealing her wings to him. It took even longer than that to let him touch them, but she found that there was really nothing to worry about. He was always delicate with them, carefully running his fingers between the feathers and occasionally massaging the point between her wings and shoulder blades, which Gwen wasn't ever going to get tired of. All in all, she liked David. That wasn't to say that there wasn't something she wanted to ask him though.

 

"Hey."

"Yes, Gwen?"

"What do your wings look like?"

 

David paused, halting the movement of the hand that he was using to smooth out her feathers. He slowly restarted the movement, but it was obvious that his mind was elsewhere. Gwen took this as a sign that she went too far.

 

"You don't need to say anything, that is, if you don't want to!"

"I'm not upset, if that's what you're worried about. I just.. Don't think it's the right time for something like that."

"Hm."

 

XxxxXxxx

 

It was during Gwen's fourth year of working at Camp Campbell, did she and David finally get together. In Gwen's opinion, it was at least a year too late, but hey: What could one do?

 

Gwen liked David for longer than she wanted to admit. David liked Gwen for longer than she did. They loved this new arrangement however, more than anything else.

They were living together now. Well, they had been ever since Gwen's old landlord kicked her out of her old apartment and David offered to let her stay with him. They had both at least managed to find work: David had been flitting between one where he waited tables and another  at a local carwash. He didn't have much time for a break, but he didn't mind that (Although that wasn't to say that Gwen felt the same). Gwen worked as a dishwasher at the same restaurant that David worked at, after David had given his employer a good word in. It was tedious work, but it still payed the bills, and she could at least catch some glimpses of her boyfriend during their breaks. It was a nice system, but it only got better on their days off.

 

They could only typically have one night a week together: David's schedule only let him off on Sundays, after all. But by God, were the two grateful when that day of the week finally arrived.

 

 

It was a day where they could do basically anything together: Spend the day at the icecream parlour? Of course. Play card games? Why not. Watch cat videos while spooning? You name it, they'd do it. But Gwen especially loved the late night cuddles, where Gwen could wrap her wings around her lover's skinny frame and hold him like he was made of precious gold (Which in her eyes, he was).

 

It was one such night, when something new finally happened.

 

David had spent most of the day lost in thought, his mind never focusing on the task at hand. It was only when Gwen had gotten home from a closing shift had she found out about what was going on.

 

"Heyyyyy, Gwen!"

"Hi David. What's wrong?"

"Why do you think there's something wrong?"

"David, you're easier to read than a book. Spill."

"Well, there's nothing _wrong,_ per say, I'm just... Nervous."

"About what?"

 

David was pacing and wringing his hands. He took a few more seconds to make up his mind, before turning back to face Gwen.

"Well, you wanted to know what my wings looked like, right?"

"...Yeah?"

"Well..."

 

His back twitched slightly, before it all fell out in a mess of feathers. Gwen could tell that David didn't really take care of them, or at least, nowhere near as much as he took care of her's. One other thing that she noticed is that they didn't unravel to their full length. That, at least, was normal: Their apartment was only so big, after all. The final thing that Gwen noticed, judging by the brown, black and white coloured feathers, was that-

 

"A Great Horned Owl? Seriously?"

 

David shifted slightly. "You mean... This doesn't change anything?"

"And here I thought that Owls were meant to be smart. Seriously David, this is what you refused to show anyone for years?"

 

David, now thoroughly embarrassed, flushed.

"Well, it's just that..."

 

Gwen knew that this was leading to a story, so she decided to shut up for the moment. David took a deep breath.

"When I was younger, and even before my wings had come in, I was always told about what wings meant bad news, and who I should stay away from. The Raptor Birds were obvious. That's why, when my wings finally did come in, I slowly started to drift away from everyone. I would never get blamed for stealing, there was a Magpie in our class after all, but ever since, all of my classmates, and even some teachers always treated me as if I was going to snap and lash out at any moment. I knew it would be hard to ever work with kids if they thought the same thing, so it just... Hid them. It was easier that way."

"... Christ, you really _are_ stupid."

"What?"

"I spent so much time in my life having to deal with stereotypes, and you think I'm going to judge you. Uh huh."

"Well, when you put it like _that_..."

 

Gwen rolled her eyes, before unfolding her own wings, and approaching him. She hesitated for a moment, before wrapping her arms around him.

"Hey, this means that it's your turn to wrap your wings around me, you know."

"Oh! Okay."

 

So he did. Gwen could admit Tha could definitely get used to this.


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey, Max? You've been in there for a while. David's getting worried."

 

No response. Gwen sighed, looked back at where David was trying to run basket-weaving camp, and was not-so-subtly looking back to where the counselors' bathroom was. She knocked again. 

"Max... Do you need help? I know you said your back was hurting yesterday, so..."

"Just go away, Gwen!"

"Jeez. Alright, kid. Join the living when QM's cooking comes out the other end, 'kay?"

 

When she joined the rest (And wrestled the pliers out of Nurf's hands, replacing them with safety scissors) she sat next to David, continuing on her own woven quiver. David leaned into her side.

"How's Max?"

"He wouldn't say. I'm kinda worried."

"Remember how his back was hurting the past few days?"

"Yep. He said it was at its worst yesterday. You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Mm-Hmm. It won't change anything, though."

"Obviously. What do you think he is?"

"Our kid?"

"You nerd. Pass me another reed."

 

* * *

 

 

Max hadn't left the counselor's bathroom for the whole day. Or at least, he hadn't left the cabins. Gwen understood that, she had acted in pretty much the same way when she got her wings. But that wasn't to say that she wasn't worried: She was, of course she was, especially when Max only came out when all of the campers had been sent to sleep. 

 

She and David had only sat down to watch an episode of Masterchef (A wonderful compromise of Gwen's love for drama and David's love of cooking shows), when they both heard a faint noise of a door from their cabin opening. They both turned to the source of the noise to see Max's head poking out from behind a still mostly closed door. His expression shifted from slightly nervous to a pissed off expression, even though Gwen could still pick out hints of worry from the kid.

"Well then, he's alive! Care to tell us what was wrong?" 

"Hmm."

"You don't have to if you don't want to, but we won't judge you no matter what it is!"

"..."

 

Max glared at the two of them a little harder, before closing his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose, and walking out, spreading his new wings and- 

"Oh-"

"My-"

"God! Max! You have a tail- You're a Peacock?! The feathers are so pretty!"

 

As it turned out, Max had three new appendages instead of just two. The blue and green feathers were spread out as far as they could go, which spanned about half of the wall behind him in width. He looked back at the wings, flexing them as though he had been practicing (Which he most likely had) and shrugged. 

"It's fitting, I guess. My parents both had these, after all."

"Huh. Aren't peacocks the national bird of India or something?"

"Yeah. I guess it works that way too. Guess now kids are going to be calling me gay or something when I get back to school."

"Then I'll go to your school and kick those kids' asses."

"Gwen!"

"You'd probably do the same thing, don't lie. Now, don't we have a kid to preen?"

 

David was about to fight with her, before eventually giving up and scooping up Max, sitting back down on the two-seater sofa with him on his lap. Max struggled to get out of David's grip, but gave up out of frustration when Gwen joined them and started running her fingers down his wings while David playfully ruffled Max's hair. Gwen thought about how the other campers would react, then chuckled slightly.

"You know, I'm pretty sure most people at camp would love your wings."

"But I can't even _fly._ "

"Tons of people can't fly. David, didn't you say that your cousin was a Cassowary or something?"

"Yeah! Besides that, I think I know what you're getting at Gwen!"

"Nikki and Neil wouldn't care, they're your best friends-"

"Dolph would probably want to draw you-"

"Nurf knows not to judge anyone based on their wings-"

"Ered's going to think they're cool. They are, by the way, and-

"Nerris and Harrison might want to include you in their activities-"

"Didn't Preston mention once how he would die for a Peacock tail or something?"

"Alright alright, I get it! Jeez, why do I ever deal with you?"

 

Max was clearly aiming for a pissed off look, but it didn't hold any wait, and soon a small smile emerged on his face.

"Thanks, or whatever."

"You're welcome, ya little shit."

"Language!

 

Yep, everything was going to be fine.

**Author's Note:**

> Alright, few things:  
> 1\. While I personally think that David would much more likely be a Hummingbird, a horned owl was more fitting for the story.  
> 2\. I am definitely accepting prompts for the series! Perhaps an au, or a sentence, or even a word, just remembered that the Gwenvid takes priority.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
